Did you ever see me any way but with a smile on my face, ready to obey any orders that you had for me? - Epictetus

When we are invited to a banquet, we take what is put before us. If someone should order the host to serve him fish or pastries, he would seem eccentric. But out in the world, we ask the gods for things they do not give us─even though there are many things they have given us.

That’s the kind of attitude you need to cultivate if you would be a philosopher, the sort of sentiments you should write down every day and put in practice.

People who are ignorant of philosophy blame others for their own misfortunes. Those who are beginning to learn philosophy blame themselves. Those who have mastered philosophy blame no one.